Grendel the monster stalks the land
After struggling to make any sense of the awful and indescribable events in Oslo and Utoya I happened to listen to a radio programme with Michael Morpurgo.
Legends and folktales, he said, “ are warning tales, to alarm and terrify us, and to remind us of our own frailty.
The tales of Beowulf and Grendel in Norwegian folklore are bold and scary, Grendel preys on people, bringing death and destruction. Beowulf confronts Grendel and kills him but this is not the end of it. Evil is not so easily vanquished.
‘Whatever the evil one is called, – witch,devil, troll or dragon, we have to be watchful and wary.”
The last in the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows part 2 shows the horrors that confronting evil can bring.
Books for children have a way of dealing with this through story, adventure, spine chilling experiences. Not all children’s books are there for the happy ending, it is the way that children can understand the emotions that are most difficult. We put those emotions in the cupboard at our own expense.
As Michael Morpurgo says, “ The monsters are out there, and they are not like Shrek, they are like Grendel.”
Sue Martin
Dolphin Booksellers the best in children’s books always on line
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